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FACT SHEET
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NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND OVERVIEW
In January 2002, President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act and introduced significant new systems of accountability in public education. The following points are an overview of some of the crucial mandates of the Act.
Accountability
All students must be proficient in reading and math by 2014.
States must develop a system of sanctions and rewards to hold districts and schools accountable for improving academic achievement.
Each State may select and design assessment tests of their choosing.
Annual testing in every grade gives teachers, parents and policymakers the information they need to ensure that children will reach academic success.
States will be expected to ensure that all children are taught by highly qualified teachers who are proficient in their subject areas.
All students must graduate from high school.
Transparency
NCLB requires states to make public the scores of every public school on annual assessments for all students and for major economic, racial, ethic, language and special education subgroups.
Rewards
High performing states that narrow the achievement gap between minority students and white students and improve overall student achievement will be rewarded with No Child Left Behind bonuses.
Flexibility
Federal funds will be available to states and districts to augment their efforts to provide capacity building and technical assistance to schools identified as needing improvement.
Consequences
Schools and districts that have not made adequate yearly progress for one academic year will be identified as needing improvement and will receive assistance to improve performance.
If the identified school still has not met adequate yearly progress after two years, the district must implement corrective action and offer public school choice to all students in the failing school.
If the school fails to make adequate yearly progress after three years, the state has the right to restructure the school by replacing the principal and deans, break the school into smaller parts and scatter students and staff to other schools.
Parental Choice
If the school fails to make adequate progress after three years,
students within the school may use Title 1 funds to transfer to a higher performing public or private school or receive supplemental tutoring services from a provider of choice.
Funding will be provided to assist charter schools with start-up costs, facilities, and other needs associated with creating high-quality schools.
Withdrawal of Federal Funds
If a state fails to meet their performance objectives and demonstrate results in academic achievement, The Secretary of Education will be authorized to reduce federal funds available to the state.
Source: www.whitehouse.gov/news/reports/no-child-left-behind.html
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